Page 49 - World Aquaculture Magazine - March 2011

World Aquaculture 47
ed for as much as 70 to 80 percent of
total harvest. The rest of the harvest
was mainly wild fish of small indig-
enous species.
The fish marketing system is tra-
ditional but plays a vital role in con-
necting group members and consum-
ers, thus contributing substantially to
the value adding process. The market
chain from char dwellers to consum-
ers encompasses mainly local agents,
suppliers, wholesalers and retailers.
Char dwellers commonly use vans,
cargo-carrying tricycles, to trans-
port their fish from remote chars to
the market. Sometimes, local agents
buy fish from the char and carrying
them to the market. Communication
between group members and interme-
diaries was generally good and take
place by mobile phones. The average
farm-gate price of fish was US$1.02/
kg, whereas consumers paid an aver-
age of US$1.57/kg. It was calculated
that fish farming groups received an
average 65 percent of the retail price.
The price of fish depended on species,
size and weight, quality, seasonality,
supply, demand and market location.
The demand for fish was high in the
markets, thus a strong network had
developed with intermediaries and
traders intervening between char
dwellers and consumers. Fish were
traded whole, un-gutted and fresh
without processing, except for sorting
and icing.
Socioeconomic Features
The net return from dead-river
fish culture was calculated to be
US$832/ha in 2008 (Table 1). The to-
tal production costs were calculated
at US$160/ha. Fish stocking and
fencing of rivers were the two most
important cost items for fish farm-
ing. The cost of fish fingerlings and
fencing was calculated to be US$74
(46 percent of total cost) and US$70
(44 percent) per ha in the reference
year. The rest of the costs were in-
curred for fish harvesting and mar-
keting. Labor cost was not calculated
because group members were volun-
tarily involved in different facets of
fish farming and marketing activi-
ties. Across the study, the net income
for a group member was estimated
at US$53 from dead-river fish cul-
ture. In addition to savings for next
year’s fish stocking, income from fish
production was equally distributed
among the group members.
There is a strong association be-
tween income and food consump-
tion. Dead-river fish culture can
potentially contribute considerable
amounts of protein to fish farming
households. The diet of group mem-
bers contained significantly more
fresh fish than in previous times. In
dead-river fish culture, fish is a cash
crop, thus 90 percent of the produc-
tion was sold to local markets with
only 10 percent consumed by the
households. It was reported that
households tend to eat small fish.
They sell most of their harvest to
purchase cheaper foodstuffs, includ-
ing small fish. In addition to animal
protein, small fish are a valuable
source of micronutrients, vitamins,
and minerals. Small fish are eaten
whole with bones and heads, which
also contributes calcium, phospho-
rus, iron, zinc and vitamins to the di-
ets of poor families. Small fish were
particularly important to the diets
of children and lactating mothers
resulting in a reduced incidence of
child blindness and infant mortality
(Roos et al. 2007).
A small number of char dwellers
(10 percent) culture boro rice on the
shoreline of the dead-river during
the dry season from January to April.
Respondents reported that rice pro-
duction on the shore was higher than